From the very start of the film, writer Chris Carter associates the aliens with the underworld; the traditional place of the fallen angels and Hell. In X-Files the unknown is dark and sinister. Carter has kept the theme of Erick Von Daniken's book "Chariots of the Gods" alive, but with a dark twist (see book below).Additionally, there is an old Babylonian myth about the beginning of the world that is reflected in the opening of the X-Files. The ancient god Dagon slew the goddess Tiamat, cut her apart, and mixes her blood with the dirt, creating the human race (see myth below). The life giving power of donor blood is not only current realization, it is also a very ancient understanding. "Life is in the blood," the ancient Hebrew scriptures teach. Alien blood is also featured in the film Alien Resurrection. In Mimic blood is used to defeat the Judas breed monster. Also, Gattaca demonstrates how shed blood brings new life.

The caveman, of course, did not survive the worms disfiguring makeover, but his skull did which was found many millennia later by a group of boys, living in the suburbs. This follows a popular theme of Steve Spielberg. In both "E.T." and "Close Encounters", young boys make amazing otherworld discoveries. Except with Spielberg these discoveries are in the heavens and good. With Carter they are in the underworld and evil. In Hell "the worm never dies" states Jesus, and Carter certainly demonstrates this in a very horrific manner as worms incarnate the young boy, who discovered the skull.

Chris Carter uses all kinds of cultural memories, both ancient and modern, to construct his film. There is a cover up, of what really happened to the boy, in Dallas Texas. Remind you of anything? And, an explosion of a downtown "federal" building! Carter references popular TV shows and movies as well. Martin Landau is used to make the mission possible. Also there seems to be borrowing from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Aliens." In fact, the aliens in X-Files look like a cross between the aliens in "Close Encounters" and "Alien." And wouldn't you know, Carter demonstrates his displeasure with the other unfriendly alien movie, "Independence Day" which, by the way, has brought in more bucks than X-Files.

In an age of political correctness it makes sense to use white guys as the bad guys. As far as I know there is no pressure group representing the WASPs. Additionally, we all know that WASPs were responsible for Watergate and other government conspiracies. They do run most of the multi-national corporations. So why not use them in X-Files? They sound dangerous to me.

The Scully-Mulder kiss that almost happened got more press than any other element in X-Files! A perfect scene, I think. Anticipation is always better than fulfillment. Just ask any kid how they feel after opening all their Christmas presents.

There are several connections to Jesus Christ, of course. Both Scully and Mulder have their "death" scenes in which the cross, or the crucified position, figure. Scully is actually placed in a "tomb" and "buried" underground. Scully's tomb was built by the rich white men, whereas, the tomb of Jesus was owned by a rich man. Scully is more the Christ character than Mulder is. However, Mulder's descent into the underworld can be connected to the descent of Jesus into Hades (Apostle's Creed) following the crucifixion to set the spirit prisoners free. Female Christ types, like Scully, can also be found in The 5th Element, Spitfire Grill, Alien Resurrection, etc.

Mulder finds Scully's cross and clothes in the underground "tomb" and knows this is where she is/was. This is similar to the disciples finding the burial clothes of Jesus in his tomb. Mulder finds Scully, and frees her from her coma death-like state. The act of resurrection of Scully brings revived life to aliens in suspended animation. In Matthew's account of Jesus, the crucifixion brings life to certain people in their tombs.

RELATED X-FILE MYTHS

TIAMAT [tee AH maht] = AlienTiamat is the watery source of life. She is Marduks defeated opponent in Enuma elish, the Babylonian account of the emergence of the gods, the formation of the physical world, and the organization of the pantheon under the rulership of Marduk at Babylon. Tiamat is a form of the more ancient Akkadian word taeamtu, sea. She is the personification of subterranean waters. She is the mother who begot everything. She is imagined as a cow or goat, a human female, a dragon, and a sea-form. Her slayer, Marduk, divides her body and creates heaven and earth out of its two halves (cf. Gen. 1:6). Tiamat in the form tehom (Heb., deeps) appears in Gen. 1:2; 7:11; and 8:2.

DAGON[DAY gun]= Caveman
Dagon was a merman, a Philistine fertility god who was in the upper half of his body a man, the lower half a fish. This half-man and half-animal makes a perfect subhuman cave man type. Samson (Judg. 16:2324) pulled down the pillars in the temple of Dagon in Gaza, an event which Matthew Henry, in his Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, interprets as a type of Christs destruction of the devils kingdom (2.103). 1 Sam. 5:15 records that when the Philistines put the captured Ark of the Covenant on the threshold of Dagons temple the idol of Dagon had in the morning mysteriously fallen over facedown, knocking off both head and hands.

CHARIOTS OF THE GODS = Ancient Aliens
In the early 1970s there was a very popular book written by Erich Von Daniken, entitled "Chariots of the Gods." In 1974 the book was made into a semi-popular psuedodocumentary movie with the same title. In both Von Daniken theorizes that earth has been visited and upgraded several times by benevolent aliens. In fact, the aliens, in his view, were here before humans and may have had a hand in human evolutionary processes. This modern myth has provided fertile ground for many sci-fi writers.

BULLETIN BOARD

INTERESTING BOOK
Subject: A book you might want to look at, if only to have a horselaugh about
Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2000
From: Joe Admire

I haven't seen the "X-Files" movie, but your mention of the book about the global conspiracy made me think of a rather ridiculous book that I've recently read (if you'll pardon the alliteration), "Rule By Secrecy" by Jim Marrs. (If you're familiar with Mr. Marrs - no relation, as far as I am aware, to Texe Marrs - you'll know that he's a proponent of JFK-conspiracy theories and alien-visitation theories.) In this book, he basically recycles all the "1970's conspiracy theories" about the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Illuminati, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitium ad nauseam, and then ties it all up with a really cockamamie connection to ancient alien visitors that would make Mulder and Scully turn pure pea-soup-green with envy.

I think it could be a very interesting complement to your excellent "Superman" review (for that matter, you should also review "Superman II", in which the "Unholy Trinity" come into full play as they go mano-a-mano with the Man of Steel). It's sometimes been said that Batman is more popular than Superman, and I think you could get a really good article out of the 1989 movie (plus which, Jack Nicholson's Joker is one of the most delicious villians ever!)
-Joe- (jadmire@monumental.com)